E-Forums: Sample rules and disclaimers
Participation guidelines St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum ''Participation Guide and Rules'' Participants are responsible for reading and understanding these rules. By participating you agree to these guidelines. 1) Use your Real Name If it is determined with careful consideration by the Moderator that a participant's actual identity is in question, that person will be suspended until proof of identity is provided. If it appears that fraud, forgery, identity theft, or computer crime laws have been violated, St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum will notify the appropriate legal authorities. Experience in other online discussion forums has shown that the use of real names rather than pseudonyms is more likely to result in a polite and respectful discussion. However, you may have a valid reason for not wanting to use your real name. In this case, an exception can be made and the Moderator can approve the use of an alias. However your identity as an SMM Oblate must be established and agreed with the moderator. This is to ensure that only Oblates and Sisters of St. Mary Monastery '''take part in discussions on the forum. 2) '''Keep to the Topic 3) Keep topics within the St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum purpose. 4) Be Civil This is NOT a public forum but all participants are real people. Please respect people with differing views. No insults, name calling or inflamed speech. Personal one-on-one arguments, disagreements or personality conflicts are not appropriate on this discussion forum. Attempts at humour or sarcasm should be labelled ... ;-), :-), etc. verbal attacks or threats will be strictly dealt with and may lead to your being barred from taking part in the discussion forum . This keeps the Forum safe. If content is illegal it will not be displayed. Personal attacks or public threats against the safety or security of participants or the St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum 'are not allowed. If you receive private communication from another participant that causes you serious concern, you may communicate that to the Moderator, but no action will be taken by the Moderator to intervene in private disputes among individuals except to prevent offending parties from taking part. When a moderator takes any action this may not be communicated to any other party. If you feel you have privately received an illegal threat via email, you should contact the appropriate legal authorities. ' '''St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum' is not responsible for any private behaviour. 5) '''Privacy' Private stays private. Don't forward private replies without permission of the original author. Contact the moderator if in any doubt. 6) No Rumours Avoid false rumours. Rumours of a personal nature are not allowed. Asking for clarification of what you've heard in the community can be appropriate if issues-based. You alone are responsible for what you post. 7)Right to Post and Reply Sharing your knowledge and opinions with your fellow citizens is a democratic right. Only those who are registered St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum '''members may post. 8) '''Items Not Allowed in Forums Commercial advertising and chain letters are prohibited from the St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum. Comments or complaints about forum management or complaints about member rule violations must not be posted to the main forum. Instead, direct such messages privately to the Moderator. 9) Public Content and Use This is not a public forum this is a forum specifically designed members of the ' '''St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum. '' 10) '''Warnings and Suspension' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum ' is moderated by ' '''St. Mary Monastery Oblate Advisory Board '' or members assigned by the St. Mary Monastery Oblate Advisory Board. Moderators reserve the right not to publish postings that are deemed offensive, illegal or otherwise unsuitable. Should a posting to St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum 'be deemed objectionable, the moderator will contact the author, explain the reasons and encourage the participant to revise the posting so that it is acceptable. You may lose your right to participate based on your behaviour in the ' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum. You may also regain your rights. You may receive informal or official warnings from the Moderator if your postings violate the ' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum' rules. After two official warnings, you will be suspended from the Forum for the duration of the current topic discussion. You can register again for any of the following topics of discussion. Technical maintenance, full e-mail inboxes, or excessive bounced messages may cause a member to be temporarily or technically removed from the Forum or result in a delayed distribution of their posts. In these cases, the member may rejoin the forum at any time. 11. Moderator Responsibilities Moderators shall behave in a manner that models good participation skills to other participants. The Moderator accepts, rejects or holds messages for posting. The moderator may propose message changes by email to a registered member to conform to the participation guide and rules. The Moderator will respect your privacy. Any personal information given to St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum will be used only for the purpose for which it was intended. Should these rules be amended, the Moderator will announce the changes in the Forum. 12) F'orum Sponsor and Publisher' St. Mary Monastery ' '''as the publisher of ' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum''' is legally liable for its content. To minimize the possibility of legal litigation, Moderators may screen postings prior to publication. Postings may be screened to ensure that the participation rules are respected. Postings are not screened to prohibit different views from those of Management or other members of the forum. Privacy Statement Forum Privacy Statement This statement outlines St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum policies in line with its commitment to ensuring the privacy of your information. These specific provisions will override any general privacy provisions and will be posted on the site as it is further developed. Information Collected You cannot access this site anonymously without disclosing relevant member information. Statistical information is collected each time you visit the forum to tally the number of times you visit the forum, the time and duration of your visit and, your use of specific boards. This information is only used to evaluate the effectiveness of the site and is not used to identify individual web users. Email addresses and other contact details you may have provided to request information will not be added to a mailing list or disclosed to a third party without your consent unless we are required to do so by law. Security of Your Personal Data St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum aims to protect the quality and integrity of your personal information and uses appropriate security and technology to maintain information, prevent unauthorised access and ensure the correct use of information. This site does not provide facilities, however, that guarantee the security of information over the internet. Copyright Original Material The logo image on the forum page is the property of the St. Mary Monastery and Mandle Design. 6. Posted Messages Copyright of messages posted to this forum remain with the person posting them. By posting an original message, the message author agrees to allow ' ' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum 'to distribute the message via the forum. While original message authors retain their personal copyright, they grant others the right to publicly quote portions of their message on this forum. 7.'Content Reproduction No content produced here may be reproduced on any other website, forum or through any media electronic, digital or analogue, written or through any other coded means. The only exception to this is where any statement deemed to have consequences might be called upon as evidence in a court of law. Requests for Reproduction Should you need to reproduce material that appears on this website for any other purpose, you must contact the management of ' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum' for expressed written permission. Requests for reproduction from this web site should be directed to the Moderator. Disclaimer Discussion Web Site This is a discussion web site and opinions put forward in posted messages are those of author and formally independent of those of St. Mary Monastery and the St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum '''management team, advisers, assistants and moderators. '''Site Information and Opinions Information published on this web site is subject to variation without notification, as may be required for technical or other reasons. The ' St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum' does not accept any liability for any loss or damages resulting from information or opinions put forward on this web site. Links to External Websites Any website address links provided from the this website are provided for convenience purposes only. The ' ' '''St. Mary Monastery Oblate Forum '''accepts no responsibility for the information or opinions contained within external websites.